Easy Homemade Granola

 

I made homemade yogurt last week and it was delicious. It was so delicious that my son had three bowls full and we used the entire quart in one day. I decided after making a bigger batch of yogurt that I needed to have some granola to go with it.

As I was standing in Wal-Mart looking at a package of organic granola that cost over $4, I thought to myself...this is stupid - if you can make yogurt you can make granola. And so I did.

It is so easy and so yummy!

Ingredients:

4 cups of old fashioned oats
1 cup of raisins or a dried fruit of your choice
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
1/2 slivered almonds
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of honey

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix 4 cups of oats, 1 cup of dried fruit, 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds, 1/2 slivered almonds together in a mixing bowl.

On your stovetop on low heat melt 1 stick of butter with 1/2 cup of honey. Once it's melted pour it in with oat mixture and stir it altogether. Lay aluminum foil out on baking tray and spread granola evenly over it.

Bake granola at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes take it out and stir it and put it back in for up to another 5 minutes if needed. Watch closely though because it may burn if you leave it the entire extra 5 minutes.

There you have it! Homemade granola for your homemade yogurt. I love this kind of stuff and I am so excited to try and get my boys to eat better with these new skills I am learning.

 

One half gallon jar full of granola!

 

#hippiesunite

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Lazy Man's Guacamole

For those of you who don't know, last night was the Super Bowl. I'm just going to be straight up honest and tell you that I could not give two figs about the Super Bowl. I don't even really care about the half-time show or the commercials.

You know what I do care about at a Super Bowl party? You guessed it...the food!

Yesterday, we had a children's ministry meeting after church and that did not give me a lot of extra time to whip something up to take to a friend's house for the evening. I kind of made up this recipe on the fly and it worked so good I thought I share it with you all.

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocadoes
1 tbsp. of dried minced onions
2 cloves of fresh minced garlic
1/4 cup of Rotel tomatoes (the canned kind to give it some spice)
2 drops of lime essential oil
Salt
Pepper

Scoop out your avocadoes in a dish, add all the rest of the ingredients, and mash with a fork until mixed. Taste and see if you need more salt added.

That's it. Short and sweet. When I do it again I may add garlic powder instead of minced garlic for a stronger flavor.

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Honey Wheat Bread Recipe

 

This honey wheat bread recipe is a big hit with my friends. I'm hoping a few of them will chime in on the comments section and let you know how much they love it! Even though my boys prefer the white bread recipe shared here, I love this recipe! It's very easy to make with a KitchenAid Mixer. You can do this all by hand without the mixer if you prefer. 

 

Ingredients:

 

3 cups of very warm water, not hot or you will kill your yeast

4.5 tsp of yeast

1/3 cup of honey

5 cups of all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur)

 

Stir all these together and let sit in the KitchenAid mixer bowl for 30 minutes

 

After 30 minutes add:

 

1/3 cup of honey

3 tbsp. of melted butter

3-4 cups of whole wheat flour (also King Arthur brand)

 

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes

 

Directions:

 Place 3 cups of very warm water in KitchenAid Mixer bowl and add the 4.5 tsp of yeast  Place 1/3 cup of honey and 5 cups of all-purpose flour in bowl and stir until thoroughly mixed    Place kneading hook on mixer and attach bowl of mixed ingredients to KitchenAid Mixer  Let ingredients sit for 30 minutes. It will look like this after the 30 minutes  Put another 1/3 cup of honey, 3 tbsp. of melted butter and 3-4 cups of whole wheat flour. I add 3 cups of whole wheat flour and knead. The 4th cup of wheat flour I add as needed until my dough starts to form a solid ball.       

 

 A video of the kneading process. I knead on low speed and it takes approximately 5-10 minutes to pick up all the flour.  Dough is still too sticky in this photo. Slowly add in that 4th cup of whole wheat flour until it picks up all the flour and forms a good ball that isn't sticky. You may need the whole 4th cup or just half.  

 

 This is what is should look like before removing it from bowl to let it rise.

Grease a bowl with butter for the first rise.

 

  Grease 3 bread pans with butter.

 How to place the dough in the bowl to make sure it's covered all over with butter 
Let bread dough rise approximately one hour. It should look like this when it's done.

 

 Once dough has risen to twice it's size, punch it down, and shape it into a square on a flour covered surface.      Cut into approximately three equal sized sections. How I cut and shape my loaves.    Place the 3 shaped loaves into greased bread pans and let rise until double in size. Once they are double in size, place in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.  3 beautiful loaves of honey wheat bread!  You should wait until bread is completely cool to cut...but I don't. I can't help myself.   One slice of heaven covered with butter and strawberry freezer jam. The strawberries were grown on our farm last year, harvested, and made into freezer jam to last us through the winter.  

I hope this is an easy tutorial for you to follow. If you have any questions, please comment below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Homemade White Bread Recipe

 

I love to bake bread because it makes me feel so homestead-y. I used to be intimated by the process, but after buying my KitchenAid Mixer, I find it very easy and enjoyable to make all kinds of bread products. You can easily make this recipe without a mixer if you want to. I'm a modern day homesteader who is not against using modern appliances to bake healthier choices for my family .

I have two recipes that I make - one is white bread and the other is a honey wheat bread recipe. I love the honey wheat, but my boys prefer the white. I take turns making them so we're all happy. I am going to share with you the white bread recipe today and the honey wheat at a future date.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of whole milk
3 tbsp. of butter
3 tbsp. of sugar
1.5 cups of warm water (It needs to be pretty warm but not hot enough that it will kill your yeast)
4.5 tsp. of yeast
5-6 cups of all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur All-Purpose flour)
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes

Instructions:

 

In a sauce pan on the stove add milk, butter, and sugar. Cook on low until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Move pan off burner and let cool to a lukewarm temperature.

 

 

While the milk/butter mixture is cooling, put 1.5 cups of pretty warm water in your KitchenAid Mixer bowl and add 4.5 tsp of yeast to it.

 



Once your stovetop mixture has cooled to a lukewarm consistency, add it to the yeast and water in your mixer.

 

Turn mixer on low speed and start adding in your flour. I add one cup at a time until I reach 5 cups. I then let it mix thoroughly and add that 6th cup of flour a little at a time until the dough starts to form a ball and it's not sticking to the sides anymore.

 

 

 

While your mixer is mixing the dough, which can take anywhere from 5-10 minutes on low, get out a bowl and grease bottom and sides with butter.

Once your dough is ready, it should look like this. Keep adding flour a little at a time if it seems runny or sticky.

 

When your dough is done mixing (you need to use the KitchenAid kneading attachment by the way), take it out of the mixer bowl and transfer it to the greased bowl. Rub the dough all around the greased dish and then flip it over so the whole dough ball is covered in butter. Cover it with a kitchen towel and let it rise for about an hour. I don't really time my rising on my bread but just keep watching until it looks like it has doubled in size.

 

It should look like this within an hour of putting it in the greased bowl.

 

 

Once the dough has risen to twice its size, punch it down. Grab a handful of flour and spread it out on your countertop. Place dough on floured countertop and press it down to form a square shape and divide it in half. 

 

 

Once it's divided in half, grease your bread pans with butter like you did your bowl.

 

Take the two halves and roll them out into long rectangular pieces like this.

 



 

Now start rolling the dough up and forming it into a loaf shape.

 



Transfer loaves to bread pans, cover, and let rise a second time until double in size.

 



Once double in size transfer to the oven for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

 



There you go! Two loaves of fresh white bread that taste delicious! They say you should wait until your bread cools to cut into it but I cannot resist the warm end piece slathered with butter after it comes out of the oven.



 

Enjoy! Let me know if you have any questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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